Targeted Air Strikes Kill Five Rescue Workers Near Syria’s Aleppo

Overnight air strikes and a rocket attack on an opposition-held area west of Aleppo killed five rescue workers of the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, who appeared to have been deliberately targeted.

BEIRUT, April 26 – Overnight air strikes and a rocket attack on an opposition-held area west of Aleppo killed five rescue workers, who appeared to have been deliberately targeted, a monitoring group and colleagues nearby said.

The raids, which the rescue workers said consisted of two air strikes and at least one rocket, hit a centre for the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the “White Helmets”, in the town of Atareb, some 25 km (15 miles) west of Aleppo.

Fighting has intensified in Aleppo province in recent weeks as a partial truce brokered the United States and Russia has all but broken down.

The Civil Defence corps work as first responders in opposition-held territory where medical infrastructure has broken down.